A whole bunch of hundreds of individuals have begun flocking to London's medieval Westminster Corridor to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II, whose coffin will lie in state for 4 days till her funeral on Monday.
Crowds shuffled previous her coffin within the centre of 900-year-old Westminster Corridor properly into Wednesday night time. Individuals flowed in two traces, with a whole lot of hundreds anticipated to pay their respects.
This is a take a look at what to anticipate for the event, together with its traditions, the ready route and what mourners will see.
How lengthy will the Queen lie in state?
Individuals who need to view the queen's coffin can accomplish that 24 hours a day from 4pm GMT Wednesday (1am AEST Thursday) till 6.30am GMT (3.30pm AEST on Monday, the day of the state funeral.
What's going to folks see?
The closed coffin is draped with the Royal Customary, a flag representing the sovereign and the UK. It's adorned with royal regalia together with the orb, the sceptre and the bejewelled Imperial State Crown - the identical one the Queen wore for her 1953 coronation.
The coffin is positioned on a catafalque, or a raised platform, within the centre of Westminster Corridor. Royal guards in plumed hats and ceremonial uniform will stand 24 hours a day at every nook of the platform.
When the coffin was in Scotland earlier this week, it was topped with the Crown of Scotland and a wreath of white flowers.
Lead-lined coffin
The Queen's coffin is constructed out of English oak, lined with lead and was made a long time in the past, specialists say.
Sarah Hayes, supervisor for the Coffin Works museum in Birmingham, England, says former UK prime minister Winston Churchill, the Queen's husband Prince Philip and Princess Diana had such coffins made for them, she stated.
"It is to protect the physique for so long as potential, it is actually about slowing down the method of decomposition," she stated. That is particularly necessary for the Queen as a result of her coffin might be ultimately positioned in a church, not buried within the floor, she added.
The coffin is product of oak from the royal household's Sandringham Property in keeping with royal custom, Hayes stated.
The queue
British officers have revealed two ready routes alongside the River Thames that the general public want to affix earlier than they will enter Westminster Corridor. The principle queue begins on the Albert Embankment and stretches east for kilometres previous the London Eye, the Tate Fashionable and Tower Bridge. There's a separate, accessible route that individuals who want it could possibly be part of from the Tate Britain museum.
Mourners have been warned about lengthy waits, presumably in a single day. A whole bunch of additional bathrooms and water fountains might be positioned alongside the route, and a few venues alongside the way in which, together with Shakespeare's Globe, will open across the clock to offer refreshments and relaxation breaks. Airport-style safety checks are in place close to the entrance of the road earlier than folks can enter Parliament.
Westminster Corridor
The mendacity in state takes place at Westminster Corridor, a 900-year-old constructing with a powerful timber roof. In-built 1097, it is the oldest surviving constructing of the Palace of Westminster.
The medieval corridor has been on the coronary heart of British historical past for a millennium: It was the place quite a few kings and queens hosted lavish coronation banquets, and the place Man Fawkes and Charles I had been tried within the seventeenth century.
Extra just lately, ceremonial addresses had been offered within the corridor to Queen Elizabeth II throughout her silver, golden and diamond jubilees.
Who will get to lie in state?
Within the UK, mendacity in state is reserved for the sovereign, queen consorts, and generally prime ministers.
Queen Mary, King George VI and King George V had been amongst royals who lay in state at Westminster Corridor. Winston Churchill was the one British prime minister to have a lying-in-state ceremony within the twentieth century.
The final individual to lie in state in Britain was Elizabeth's mom, often called the Queen Mom. Some 200,000 folks paid their respects to her over three days when she died in 2002.
When did the custom begin?
The custom of mendacity in state stretches again to the seventeenth century when Stuart monarchs lay in state for numerous days.
Edward VII set the fashionable custom of royal mendacity in state in Westminster Corridor. He lay in state in 1910.
The place is the Queen's ultimate resting place?
After the state funeral, the coffin might be taken to Windsor, about 32km west of London. The queen might be laid to relaxation within the King George VI Memorial Chapel, inside St. George's Chapel at Windsor Citadel, the place her mom and father had been interred and her sister Princess Margaret's ashes had been positioned.
Prince Philip's coffin, which is presently in St George's Chapel's Royal Vault, is predicted to be moved to the memorial chapel to affix the queen's.
St George's is the place lots of Britain's royals had been baptised, married and buried all through historical past. It has lengthy been the resting place for the royals, and 10 former sovereigns had been buried there.
The Queen's ultimate journey